14 DAY TRIAL // With countless fans taking to Twitter and other channels to express their regret at the tragic death of “Pirates of the Caribbean” star Johnny Depp, it would be very wise if we considered the source before actually lamenting his passing. Johnny Depp is not dead and has not been in an accident over the weekend, the story being just another instance of an Internet hoax, E! Online writes.
This is, as fans must remember, not the first time the actor is targeted by such a story, last time when it happened (in 2004), the pranksters even coming up with a photo of the car wreckage on a website that copied the CNN page down to the last detail. Luckily, this time too, the actor is safe and sound, as his spokesperson confirms for the aforementioned media outlet. Fans can breathe in relief now.
“In yet another example of the Interweb gone terribly wrong, Johnny Depp was faux-killed in France after a car crash late Saturday, sending bloggers into a fact-finding tizzy, and fans tweeting ‘RIP Johnny Depp’ right into a Twitter trending topic. E! News has confirmed that Depp is alive and well, and was not involved in an accident of any kind. ‘He isn’t dead,’ Depp’s rep, Robin Baum, told E! News. ‘He’s fine’,” E! writes of the rumor emerged over the weekend.
“The Golden Globe winner has been linked to several death rumors in the past, the most recent elaborate hoax using images of a hodgepodge of wrecked vehicles, and even a fake CNN website confirming the news. At least he’s in good company. Over the past year, fellow stars including Taylor Lautner, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Hanks, Miley Cyrus, and countless others have found themselves the recipient of an untimely passing announcement,” the same e-zine goes on to inform.
Johnny Depp, named by GQ the most stylish man of the year, while also honored by the entire movie industry as the actor / entertainer of the decade, will start working on the fourth installment of “Pirates of the Caribbean” this summer, as we also informed you a while back. The film, for which Depp reportedly got an estimated $38 million, will focus entirely on his character, Cpt. Jack Sparrow, as both Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom announced their departure from the successful franchise.